Friends First sponsors new Abbey Theatre tour

Friends First are delighted to be a supporting partner to the Abbey Theatre’s tour of Two Pints by Roddy Doyle. Directed by Caitriona McLaughlin, Two Pints will premiere in The Foxhound Inn in Kilbarrack on 11 July, before it heads on the road to pubs across the country.

Two Pints started as a conversation on Facebook. Roddy Doyle has now brought the two characters to life in a play, to be performed in local Irish pubs.

Two men meet for a pint. They talk about their Da’s, death, Nigella, North Korea, the afterlife…
– Richard the Third.
– Who was he?
– The king of England.
– Wha’ happened the f****** Queen?
– Before her.
– He was her da?
– I think so, yeah. Grandda maybe. Anyway, they found him.
Starring Liam Carney and Lorcan Cranitch, the audience are invited to pull up a stool and listen in as the friends chew the fat and set the world to rights.

Graham McLaren and Neil Murray, Directors of the Abbey Theatre said ‘We want the Abbey Theatre, our national theatre, and its audience to be reflective of Ireland. To us, this means presenting work all over Ireland, and not necessarily in conventional spaces. Roddy’s funny, touching and provocative Two Pints seemed the perfect piece to do this with this year. ’

Roddy Doyle said ‘When I wrote Two Pints, I didn’t envisage it being performed in a pub, but it is part of the adventure. This new play is being put on in a context that is unfamiliar to me – that excites me.’

Commenting on the sponsorship, Brian O’Neill, Strategic Marketing Director, Friends First commented, “This is a new type of partnership for us and we are very pleased to be involved with this unique and exciting tour. Like the Abbey Theatre, Friends First has a very long and established reputation and heritage in Ireland. We value the contribution the theatre makes to our culture and are delighted to be able to support it in this way.”

From Dublin to Dingle and Donegal – with a week in Galway as part of the Galway International Arts Festival – Two Pints will tour to 22 pubs in 16 counties over four weeks this summer.